mark poulson

This is what happens to a carpenter/contractor with no work for 3+ years. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop".

What are the dimensions of the Hilts Perfect Replica Mold? How many jig head cavities could I fit into it?

Why wouldn't you just spread the weedguard out side to side, like a fan? That's what I do when I am fishing really thick weeds, and it works.

I pour with an open garage door, and a 20" box fan blowing out from the rear of the garage. Most of the time, I pour on the driveway, so the fumes aren't as bad, but they are there. Years ago, I made a sawdust collection system for my garage, starting with two VR1000 exterior side wall mount fans which are both 10" diameter intake. They are explosion proof fans meant for remote Kitchen hood venting, and I salvaged them off a job I was doing. I made a collection box with a 35 gallon plastic trash can mounted below it. The sawdust is carried from which ever machine I'm using, up through 4" solid piping verticals into a 6" solid horizontal pipe that passed across the ceiling of the garage and dumps into the collection box. The 6" pipe actually dumps down into the trash can, which lets the heavier stuff precipitate out, and the finer stuff is pulled up into the collection box, through a screen and then a washable AC filter, and out through the side wall fans. In all the years I've been using this system, it has worked fine, with a teeny amount of fine dust collecting on the exterior wall below the fans. Not even enough to clean off. I put a plexiglass face on the collection box, so I could monitor the AC filter and know when I needed to clean it. Since I've used the system for sawdust for so long, I decided against trying to modify it for my plastic pouring. I was afraid I would mix sawdust and plastic fumes, and that might not be good. But I'm fortunate to live in SoCal, where I can pour outside most of the time.

Remember, if you're adding flake, that will give the plastic a different look, too.

Forstner bits cut flat bottomed holes, which are great. If you can find them in the sizes you need, they are perfect. I don't have any in the smaller sizes I need for drilling eyes, so I use the brad point bits, too. For bigger sizes, I drill with the larger brad point bit, and then use a smaller bit, or just an exacto knife, to flatten out the hole. When I'm making a batch of the same lures, like swimbaits, I drill a small pilot through hole for the eyes while the lure blanks are still rectangular, so the eyes line up exactly after I've shaped the lure. I drill the larger eye holes after the lure is shaped and sanded. I know the fish can't see both sides of a lure at once, but I can, and it drives me nuts when they don't line up.

Matt, You came up with a truly great lure. I'm glad you can defend it. All you hard work shouldn't be stolen from you.

I'm posting this here because I don't know where else to post it. I just went online to Major League Fishing, and watched half of the first episode. It is exciting, almost like being there, fishing with the anglers. To me, it's worth the $3 an episode, or $18 for the whole package. Take a look. It's free to check it out.

Ben, A Club member makes some nice rigs using a lead slip sinker for the head. He drills out enough of the back for his sst wire connection to fit, epoxies it in, and he's good to go. I made one with PVC, hollowed out to hide the cluster f*#! of a wire connection, and then glued together with D2T. It works. I wouldn't get fixated on the head shape, because it is really just a way to hold the wired connections. The thing that gets bit is the plastics.

My name is Mark, and I'm a luraholic.

Will PAM cooking spray work?

if you want to get down to bare plastic, sand first to weaken the top coat, scrape the paint off with the back of an exacto knife, use the knife point to get into the cracks and details, and then dip quickly in acetone to remove the last traces of paint, and to remove any sanding and scraping marks on the plastic. The acetone will clean the surface enough to let you paint directly onto the bait, without a primer. Just don't soak it in the acetone, or it may dissolve the plastic of the bait itself. A quick dip, or a brushdown using a stiff brush, like an acid brush. If you're going to do a solid color paint scheme, just dip or brushdown with the acetone. The old paint, if it's sound and not peeling, will be fine as an undercoat, and you don't have to put a primer over it to get a good bond once the acetone has brought the old paint surface back to life.

If they have to pay you to do it, it's called work.

bass100, It sounds like you have a great setup. Any chance you could post some pictures?

When I first started making jointed swimbaits, and used the Triple Trout as a starting point, I was fortunate enough to be working for a tournament trail that Bill Siemantel fished with his partner, Troy Lindner. I asked Bill to critique my lures, and I asked whether I was out of line using the Triple Trout as my "inspiration". Bill said he had been involved over the years with every major sucessful West Coast swimbait builder, either helping in the design, or in testing their prototypes. He said, over the years, everyone copies someone else, dating back to a swimbait that was made in the '50s. I don't remember the name of the original, but he said, as long as you're putting your spin on something and not just making an exact copy, it is okay. This is from one of the "silver eagles" of swimbait fishing, and bass fishing on the West Coast. So, if you have the itch, go for it. Be as original as you can be, and don't make duplicates of other people's stuff. Put your own spin on it and you'll be fine. But it is, first and foremost, a business, so go into it, like Salty says, with your eyes open.

Thanks for the tip!

I thought he said two part epoxy, but I don't know which kind. His blanks looked grey to me, if that helps.

Here's the link: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/20768-want-to-make-a-mold-or-reproduce-a-old-crankbait-where-do-you-start/page__p__155313__hl__hillbilly__fromsearch__1#entry155313

Thin to milk, or even skim milk consistency. A little too thin is far better than too thick. Thin, multiple coats, with each coat heat set, is the key, especially for beginners. Thin coats heat set faster, and you can build to whatever thichness you want without worrying about uncured coats, and trapped moisture under your top coat. It's a good idea to go online to the Createx website, and read up on heat set paints, and how the heating process actually changes the molecular structure of the paint, making it waterproof. It's really T shirt paint, and is meant to be heat set with an iron to make it survive washings. Not heating it enough will result in a more fragile paint scheme.

I use a hi/low heat gun from Wagner. I vary the time over the heat according to the size of the jig head. I also haven't scortched a jig since I switched away from a propane torch to the heat gun. Even on hi, the heat gun takes 8-10 seconds to heat my 1/4 and 3/8 oz football jigs to the temp I like, so the powder melts and glosses. Maybe higher powered guns heat faster, but this works for me. I read here that people use their toaster ovens to preheat a lot of jig heads before they powdercoat, but I can't manage to get stuff out of a hot toaster oven without burning myself or dropping the jigs, or both, so I don't do it that way.

The only way to get a true Sweet Beaver mold is to make one yourself out of POP. But don't try to sell the baits. RI will come after you.

Just make sure whichever fan you pick is explosion proof. Kitchen hood fans are, to prevent grease fires, but others may not be. Don't put a fan in that isn't explosion proof, or you're courting disaster.

A while back a TU member named Hillbilly posted how he made two part plastic cranks. Try the search tab with his handle.

If you're worried about copying another person's bait, call them and ask if it's okay with them.

Amazing how well plastic pours and injects if you shake it first! Hahaha Thanks again guys for you help.